The Naked City Blog

Exploring life in the city – Charlotte – and the greater metro region. Looking at urban design, transportation, growth, the built environment and more.

Mary Newsom is a lifelong journalist and observer of city life in the Charlotte region and beyond, with a focus on urban design, sustainable development, growth and city planning. She is associate director of urban and regional affairs at the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute. Her blog reflects her views only, not necessarily those of the institute or of UNC Charlotte.
Contact: mnewsom@uncc.edu.

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Friday, October 7, 2011

What's that P in APA? Hint: Not 'process'

Journalists and planners share many interests – community wellbeing, policymaking and government, for instance – but here's one thing they don't share: A fascination with process. Most journalists I know get twitchy whenever people start talking about "the process" or about "creating a framework."
Maybe we shouldn't, because after all, the democratic process is just that. But truth is, process is tedious and all too often, an excuse for avoiding difficult or controversial decisions. Plus, it makes for boring coverage.

So it was music to the ears today to hear the national president of the American Planning Association, Raleigh's Planning Director Mitchell Silver, tell the state planning conference of the N.C. chapter of the APA that the P in APA should not stand for Process. "Very often people find comfort in process, not planning," he said.

His Friday morning talk, "The value of planning in the 21st century," was a rousing pep talk aimed at inspiring planners to start planning with a capital P, using plans to express their vision and values. "Sustainability," as a term, he said, has a shelf life, but its intent to support the economy, the environment and equity will live on because they've always been at the heart of the goals of planning. But planning evolves.

Fall back in love with planning, he urged the group. "This is the most exciting time to be in this profession."

I covered his talk via Twitter. (Silver is on Twitter as well, at @Mitchell_Silver.) So rather than blather on, I'll just offer up my Tweeting stream:

Silver (reached on Twitter @Mitchell_Silver) says the data comes from Arthur C. "Chris" Nelson and an article in the Journal of the American Planning Association. This link http://bit.ly/oAvy8C takes you to a 2010 piece in The Atlantic citing Nelson's work. And here's a blog I did about Nelson's talk in Charlotte last February: http://bit.ly/fF1r1I